IOWA CITY, Iowa – Senior Blake Snyder shot 5-under par (67) in the opening round of the Hawkeye-Great River Entertainment Invitational, Saturday, to lead the Washington State University men’s golf team. The Cougars carded a 587 (+11) through 36 holes and currently sit in sixth place.

Snyder (-5, 139) is currently in second place, two strokes back from Minnesota’s Jose Mendez (-7, 137). The Cougars carded a 293 (+5) in the opening round, before shooting 6-over par (294) in the second round to finish 11-over par. WSU sits two strokes back from fifth-place Marquette (+9, 585). Host school Iowa (-8, 568) leads the 12-team field.

WSU junior Charlie Mroz carded four birdies and an eagle to finish the day 3-over par (147). Mroz is currently tied for 19th. After a tough opening round, freshman Nick Mandell rebounded to shoot 1-over (73) in the second round and finish tied for 40th (+8, 152). Junior Michael Anderson shot a 75 (+3) in the second round to finish the day tied with Mandell. Senior Kent Hagen’s day was highlighted by an eagle on the 11th hole in the second round. Hagen is currently in 59th (+13, 152).

“Blake played great,” WSU Head Coach Garrett Clegg said. “In the first round, unfortunately, he didn’t get a lot of support. I thought in the second round we played better as a group. Charlie was pretty solid throughout the day, and Nick Mandell played a great second round. It’s good to see that out of him as a freshman and in his first tournament of the spring. We’re playing some decent golf. We aren’t in the place we want to be, but we have a good chance to move up tomorrow.”

The tournament concludes Sunday with the final round of play in a shotgun format beginning at 9 a.m. CDT (7 a.m. PDT). Live scoring will be available at golfstat.com for the tournament's duration. Tournament results and recap will be available at the conclusion of competition at wsucougars.com.